Notes from November 2004

Miranda's growing fast. She's not a tiny baby anymore.

Sounds

She is making a lot of sounds, including delighted squeals and ahhs, and some less delightful screeching she's learning from Orson.

Mobility

She's rolled back to front three times. She can be pulled up to sitting and standing and is delighted to do so. She's not so interested in doing much more than raising her head, looking around and settling down to suck her thumb when she's on her stomach. She can grab and move with two hands items that are placed close enough when she's in her rocker or some other semi-upright position and loves to crane her head and torso up and around in the rocker in an effort to see what's going on nearby.

Growth

Miranda is above average on height and weight for her age. We all think she is beginning to lose her big cheeks. She's just on the cusp of losing the last few strands of newborn hair, and the new crop seems to be darker than Orson's second lot of hair. Her eyes also seem darker.

Sleeping

Unlike Orson, Miranda seems quite able to nap during the day if left to her own devices in the busy kitchen in her rocker. She also nods off when snuggled in the Baby Bjorn. She generally sleeps around 9 hours straight at night, with a bit of a nap just before and some mornings a sleep-in of an hour or two after.

Behavior

Miranda is learning to fuss for attention only. She's getting very sure of what is is she wants to be doing now, such as walking outside, sitting on someone's lap, lying on the change table. She loves to crane her head up and to the right on the change table and will coo and bat at things there when she's just been quite cranky somewhere else. She's basically a good-natured little girl, and will smile excitedly at almost anyone, almost anytime. She rarely cries for milk unless she's really really hungry. She seems to be trying to cut from six to five feeds a day, which seems crazy to me!

Two Kids

Miranda rarely sees Orson as he moves too fast, but she is very aware of him through sound I think. She often copies his little shrieks, and then he copies her, and I can't see an end to it. :) After months of sleeping in separate rooms, Orson and Miranda and we are just about to start sleeping in the same room, which is a good thing for the summer months as our bedroom is airconditioned. As to who wakes when and who wakes whom, we shall have to see. Although Orson is a pretty demanding boy (he's 2 after all!), I try to fit in some quiet Miranda time when he's napping or gone to bed, or off shopping with Bill and Liam. We read a few books and bat at things and try rolling over, sit and stand up, or just lie around or swan around in the Baby Bjorn and chat. She's getting a lot of exposure to people and language, but she can lack one-on-one attention when we get busy.

Background

Liam has recently gone from three to four days a week working at Melbourne Uni. Judy isn't working - and doesn't expect to be for some time - but is plenty busy despite the invaluable aid of Bill and Diane with two days of playgroup, and the usual eat-play-eat-nap-play-eat-play-sleep routine of a two year old..

Look at Images from November and December...